Head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill arrived in Kirov on June 6. He held a liturgy in the village of Velikoretskoye — destination of the procession, in which thousands of people took part. Photographer of «7x7» Sergey Yuferov visited Velikoretskoye without journalistic accreditation to watch the procession as usual participants.
Patriarch arrived in Kirov around 10:00. A motorcade of 13 cars drove along an empty street (roads were blocked due to his arrival). The police stood at every step of the way.
Then the head of the Russian Orthodox Church moved to a helicopter and went to Velikoretskoye.
There he held a liturgy on the banks of the Great River. Pilgrims who arrived in the village the night before could not get to the bank of the river because of fences and metal detectors. The patriarch was accompanied by employees of the federal guard service.
Sergey Yuferov explained that those who wanted to come closer to the river were stopped by policemen who joked that only Vladimir Putin could pass. People watched the happening on the large screens.
After the service, Patriarch Kirill arrived at the Trifonov Monastery at about 15:00 in Kirov. He bowed to the shrines and spoke to the flock. For many it remained unknown what exactly he said: according to the portal "Svoikirovsky", only about four hundred people could get inside. The rest crowded at the entrance to the temple and could only see the departing motorcade of the patriarch.
Pilgrims who stayed in the village of Velikoretskoye, will start moving in the morning on June 7. It is expected that they will arrive in Kirov on the evening of June 8.
Katerina Klepikovskaya, photo by Sergey Yuferov, «7x7»
